conjugative
transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in ozonated wastewater

Background

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a serious threat to the environment and public health worldwide according to the World Health Organization. Wastewater has been recognized as one of the sources of releasing AMR elements into aquatic environments. Advanced wastewater treatment (AWWT) is now emerging as an effective treatment to remove pharmaceuticals from wastewater. However, lab scale studies show that antibiotic resistance bacteria survive and regrows in higher concentrations after applying one of the AWWT, ozonation. With the ability of bacteria to acquire genes from the environment and other bacteria (horizontal gene transfer – HGT), the spread of AMR can be accelerated. It is presumed that conjugation is the primary mechanism of HGT. Whether conjugation events will also be higher after applying ozonation has to be studied.

Your responsibilities

• Sampling from reactor
• Culturing, isolating GMO fluorescent strains and counting colony forming units.
• Data analysis and report results